BRIDGEPORT, Conn. — As the Union men's hockey practice wound down Thursday, Jeremy Welsh corralled a pile of pucks and started whipping them at the boards.

With each flick of his wrist, a ka-boom echoed through the empty Webster Bank Arena, where Welsh and the Dutchmen face Michigan State on Friday in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

This has been Welsh's favorite pastime since he was a young boy growing up on his family's fourth-generation, 150-acre farm in Bayfield, Ontario, on the banks of Lake Huron.

One year Welsh's father, Ralph, built a big barn for all the farm equipment, the tractors and plows and the like. Though it wasn't exactly the plan, the barn proved fortuitous in Welsh's development as a hockey player.

"Every day after school I'd come home, go in there and shoot pucks," Welsh said. "I did it thousands and thousands of times."

Union would love to see its junior center fire more and more shots while wearing the garnet jersey, but one of the subplots of the Dutchmen's postseason will be whether that comes to fruition.

In fact, the question has been hanging over the Dutchmen most of the year: What happens to the guy they call "Welshie" when the season ends?

After the Dutchmen dispatched Havard in the ECAC championship game, Welsh changed into his suit and tie before most players had so much as unlaced their skates.

Welsh declined to comment on their conversation, but he acknowledged knowing there have been a handful of professional scouts at Union games all year. It seems inevitable Welsh will have a chance to turn pro sometime in the next few weeks.

"The good thing is no decisions have to be made right now," Welsh said, and that is indeed good for Union, because the Dutchmen need their 6-foot-3, 205-pound center if this historic season is to include a trip to Tampa, Fla., for the Frozen Four.

Welsh already has broken the program's single-season scoring record with 25 goals, and he centers the line that includes Daniel Carr and Josh Jooris.

They epitomize the two-way play that has vaulted Union to the No. 3 overall seed in this tournament.

"They have very good players on their team, and he's certainly one of them," Michigan State coach Tom Anastos said. "We're going to be very aware of him."

It never was inevitable that Welsh would have this kind of career. He arrived on campus needing work on his skating and in the defensive zone, so the coaching staff moved him to wing, where he'd have less responsibilities and more time to develop.

Welsh shifted back to center his sophomore year and put in extra time with Union coach Rick Bennett, then an assistant, watching film. His goal production hopped from 10 his freshman year to 16 his sophomore year to 25 and counting this season.

"When we switched him back to center, he just kind of ran with it," Bennett said.

Welsh now has all the tools to play in the pros: size, solid play in both ends, adequate skating ability and the kind of shot that, when it hits the boards, sounds like it ignited dynamite.

Ka-boom.

It was a sweet sound to serenade the Dutchmen as practice wrapped up Thursday. They hope they weren't hearing it for the last time.